LIVERMORE — A 36-year-old man died Tuesday after he was struck by runaway paving machine in unincorporated Livermore, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said.

About 9:30 a.m. workers with the asphalt company Bond Blacktop were repairing a private drive in the 5000 block of Doolan Road when the paving machine apparently malfunctioned and rolled down a hill, said Sheriff’s Lt. Kelly Miles.

The paver crashed through a barbed wire fence and stuck a worker standing next to an asphalt truck, Miles said. The worker did not hear the paver coming because of the generator noise and didn’t see it because his back was turned, Miles said.

Ramiro Vargas was flown to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. He died later that afternoon.

The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating, Miles said. Contact Sophia Kazmi at 925-847-2122. Follow her at Twitter.com/sophiakazmi.

"There is a general recognition that we don't need these military-style weapons in New Zealand, so it's very easy to win cross-party support for this," said Mark Mitchell, who was defense minister in the previous, center-right government and who supports the ban initiated by the center-left-led Labour Party.